


dolce speranza, freddo timore

by bothsexuals



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, cinderella au baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26138797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothsexuals/pseuds/bothsexuals
Summary: Troy falls in love with a dude dressed as Batman at the Halloween party, but he leaves before even telling Troy his name. Troy will find him, however hard it may be.aka: a trobed Cinderella au.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir, a brittannie crumb
Comments: 23
Kudos: 175





	dolce speranza, freddo timore

**Author's Note:**

> This might very well be my last fic for a while, I don't really know whether I'll write anything while I'm away at school, so... enjoy it, and thanks for reading all the shit I produced during these awful last few months. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> Title is my own damn business. Don't worry about it. Read the fic.

Troy was glad he’d gone to the Halloween party. There was no one to stop him from drinking booze, there were many pretty people in costumes, and he thought he looked charming in his Eddie Murphy get-up. The problem was he had no one to talk to, because it was only October and he had just started going to Greendale Community College, and therefore hadn’t really made any friends just yet. He was on good terms with Neil from English class and he’d chatted to a few people here and there, but he was yet to mould anything of real significance. So there he was, awkwardly glancing at the attendees, trying not to pause on anyone long enough to be considered creepy, until something caught his eye- well, someone. A student dressed as Batman- like, _really_ dressed as Batman. Their costume looked amazing. _They_ looked amazing. They were standing next to a pretty brunette in a slightly less detailed Catwoman costume- their significant other, probably, he thought with a slight pang of disappointment. Troy couldn’t take his eyes off of them. 

Batman turned around and caught Troy’s eye, and a gorgeous grin spread on his face, prompting a blush to rise to Troy’s cheeks. Then they said something to Catwoman, who nudged him with their elbow as they replied, then raised their hand, palm-down, and Batman put their own on top of it, then they slid them together and tugged their joined hands back and forth a couple times. Troy realized after a few seconds that they were doing an adorably dorky secret handshake and he couldn’t help but smile. 

And then, Batman started walking in Troy’s direction. Oh, wow, very much _exactly_ his direction. Oh, okay, Batman was standing right in front of Troy. Cool. 

“Hey,” they said, and god, even their Batman voice was perfect. 

“Hi,” Troy croaked out. 

“My pronouns are he and him,” Batman said then, “my friend said I always have to tell people.” 

Troy nodded. It made sense. 

“So are mine,” he replied, “and I’m Troy.”

“I’m Batman,” the man replied. 

Troy chuckled, “Yeah, man, you look amazing.”

“So do you,” Batman said, “you’re a very attractive young man.” 

“Oh, man, I’ve always wanted Batman to tell me that.”

“Well, you’re very handsome.” 

Troy was blushing like crazy. All he could manage was a bashful smile, but thankfully Batman took the reins of the conversation again, and asked Troy if he wanted to get a drink. Troy looked into his eyes, so gentle and mysterious behind the mask, so hopeful as he posed the question. 

Obviously, he had to say yes. 

  


***

  


Abed had spent the whole night talking to Troy. He _had_ meant to spend the party having fun with Annie, but then he’d caught this man’s gaze and he told her “I think I just found someone,” and she told him to go, go, _go!_

(He saw her kissing Britta from Spanish class in the hallway only an hour or so later, so clearly she was good.)

But god, he was glad Annie had told him to go to Troy, because there was something so magical about him. Around him, Abed felt like he was in a fairytale. He suddenly understood why characters burst into songs about gorgeous strangers in movies. He was also glad he was Batman that night, because that gave him endless confidence to flirt with the most gorgeous man he had ever seen- confidence he probably wouldn’t have had as himself, with a man so mesmerising he almost made Abed forget how to breathe.

Hours passed and they didn’t get tired of talking- about the party, commenting on every costume they saw, about themselves (though Abed let Troy do most of that part), about comics, movies, TV, plus a lot of Abed-as-Batman’s suave flirting, followed by Troy stumbling over himself to reciprocate- until they found themselves on the library floor, sat so close that their sides were touching as they snacked on candy and talked about everything and nothing. 

“That’s one of my biggest fears,” Troy said, trying out a Batman voice. It wasn’t as thoroughly rehearsed as Abed’s, but it was good. 

“What is?” 

“If I ever woke up as a donut-” 

“You would eat yourself?” 

“I wouldn’t even question it.” 

Abed nodded and agreed with a low hum.

Troy looked at him for a moment, eyes unreadable, then said, “It’s nice to know other people think about this stuff too.” 

“Yeah,” Abed agreed with a soft smile, “yeah.” 

His phone dinged, breaking the moment. He grabbed it, read the text from Annie and hurriedly stood up. 

“I have to go,” he said, only half-maintaining the Batman voice, and made sure to do a cool _swoosh_ with his cape as he turned to leave. 

“Wait!” Troy called, standing up after him, “You can’t go!” 

“I have to,” Abed repeated. 

“But- but I- I haven’t even kissed you.” Troy’s eyes widened, as if only realizing the words he’d said once they’d left his mouth. “I don’t even know your name!” 

Abed sighed. The confirmation that Troy was as smitten as he was only after one night didn’t comfort him as much as it should have. He hadn’t fully shown himself that night, he’d shown a smoother, cooler, more Batman-y version of Abed. If Troy knew the real him… well, he might not still feel that way. 

“Our college isn’t that big,” he settled on saying, “if you really want to find me, you will. And then, if you still want me-” his lips curved into a small smile “-then, I’ll be yours.” 

He gave Troy one last look and left, his heart filled with hope and uncertainty. 

  


***

  


_If you still want me, then I'll be yours._

What did that even mean? Why wouldn't Troy want him? He'd spent the whole night with him, hadn't he? He'd told him his weird, dorky thoughts and Batman Dude hadn't judged him, but rather, he'd agreed and offered his own. 

But he wanted to be Troy's. And god, Troy wanted to be his. More than he'd ever wanted anything. 

So he would find him. Even if he had to end up on another goddamn planet, he'd find him. (He wouldn't, they went to the same college, but the thought was there!) 

_If you still want me, then I'll be yours._

The words filled him with a sweet sort of hope, and at the same time made him shiver as if they were made of ice. 

He repeated them over and over in his head as he made his way home, and resolved to set out on a quest to find the man who had so easily stolen his heart. 

  


***

  


The next day, he started with the most obvious task: asking around. 

"Neil," he approached his acquaintance-slash-friend after English class, "do you know who Batman is?" 

Neil looked at him, dumbfounded. "Bruce Wayne?"

"No!" Neil frowned. "No, the dude from the party. The one dressed as Batman." 

"Oh." He thought for a moment. "No, man, sorry. Why?" 

Troy sighed. "Because I'm in love with him." 

Neil tilted his head and gave him an odd look. 

"I know it's weird, but I am," Troy said. 

Neil gave him a sympathetic nod. "I'll ask around for you, dude," he said with a reassuring pat on Troy's shoulder. 

"Thanks, Neil," Troy sighed, and Neil gave him one last nod before leaving. 

Okay, it was just one person. He didn't need to lose hope. 

  


***

  


He lost hope. 

He'd been asking everyone for _three days_ , and no one could tell him who the hell Batman Dude was. 

How was that even possible?! There weren't that many students! How mysterious was this guy? 

He tried a different approach on the fourth day. A slightly crazy approach, granted, but he did it in the name of love, okay?! 

He had a free period, so he decided to use it in a productive way: he burst into every single classroom, looked at every guy there, and left when he didn't find _his_ guy. 

(At first he hadn't been _bursting in_ , he even tried to find excuses to be doing it, but this was way more time efficient.)

He was on his way to another classroom when someone grabbed him by the shoulders. 

"What the hell dude, stop, I'm on a quest!" 

"A quest to disrupt my perfectly normal college." 

Troy turned around to see the Dean staring back at him and his eyes widened comically. 

"Mr. Barnes, I'm gonna have to ask you to stop running into classrooms and staring at students. You're making everyone very uncomfortable." 

"But I'm trying to find the love of my life!" 

Dean Pelton's frown melted into an endeared pout. "Aww, isn't that sweet?" 

Troy smiled hopefully. "So can I go?" 

The frown returned. "No. Isn't there a less disruptive way for you to do this?" 

Troy thought for a moment. 

"Can I make an announcement?" 

The Dean extended a hand and Troy shook it. "Deal," he said, "now stop going into classrooms." 

Troy looked at the door of the Spanish classroom longingly. 

"Just this last one," he pleaded. 

"No," Dean Pelton said, pushing Troy away, "enough of that. Go work on your announcement." 

"Fine," Troy sighed. 

Inside the classroom, Abed tapped his pencil on his textbook and daydreamed of pretty Troy from the Halloween party. 

  


***

  
"Attention, Greendale students," Dean Pelton's voice rang out across campus, "here are your announcements for the day. Lunch will be served thirty minutes later than usual, on account of our lunch lady getting locked out of her car. Cindy, I'm sorry, I swear I took your car keys by accident. Fencing class is cancelled, on account of the teacher stabbing a student. And now, a very special announcement from our very own Troy Barnes!"

There were some rustling sounds over the speakers, then a much more pleasant voice touched Abed's ears. 

"Uh- hey, guys, Troy here. I'm looking for a- for a man. Not just any man, a specific one. Batman." He sighed, causing the comm to crackle. "Not Batman, a guy dressed as Batman. Not now, at the Halloween party. This is bad."

"I told you to rehearse it," Abed heard the Dean's faint voice say, and he couldn't contain a chuckle. 

"Batman Dude, if you're hearing this, please, tell me who you are," Troy pleaded then, "everyone else, if you know who it was… find me. Troy Barnes. Please. Uhhh- over and out." 

Annie sat down on the library couch next to him and slapped his arm.

"Dude, the man is desperate," she hissed, "why don't you just tell him?" 

"This is his hero's journey," Abed explained, "he needs to find me, and see who I am. And hopefully he won't be disappointed." 

Annie's expression softened. "Babe, of course he won't, did you hear how gone for you he is?" 

"He met Batman-Abed. Sure, I slipped through the cracks here and there, but- he probably likes that cool, suave version of me. I'm not like that." 

"You're better," she crooned, "he'll like you even more." 

Abed sighed. "We'll see." 

In the meantime, he would wait, and hope, and fear, just a little bit, that Troy would find him only to send him away.

  


***

  


Troy thought he might be going crazy. It was fine, really, he even sort of enjoyed it. He’d never thought losing his mind could be quite so pleasant until he met that mysterious stranger, gazed into his gentle eyes, studied the soft curve of his lips. 

Nothing had turned up from the announcement, other than a couple false leads. Someone pointed him to a guy called Joey, who was definitely too white and annoying to be his mystery man, and someone else pointed him to someone who was actually dressed as _Superman_ and somehow they had confused them. _How?!_

He turned to his last resort: posters. 

He drew a sketch of Batman Dude, even added a few hearts around him to further drive the point home. 

_THIEF WANTED_ , the poster said, _THIS MAN STOLE MY HEART- Reward: endless gratitude + candy._

Unsurprisingly, those didn’t help either. Troy was really starting to lose hope. He tossed his food around the plate as he sat alone in the cafeteria, too discouraged to feel any appetite. He looked up and away from his sad, dry, uneaten meatballs at the sound of a bright laugh. A bright laugh that he recognized, a bright laugh that had inhabited his every dream, day and night, ever since Halloween.

He looked around the crowded cafeteria- he was there somewhere, he had to be. Troy had heard him, but there were so many goddamn people and he would _never_ find him at this rate and- 

And then he saw her. A brunette, her hand held out in front of her, palm down. He recognized that stance, that movement, the pretty girl Batman had told him was his best friend. His eyes posed on the tall man standing next to her, putting his hand on top of hers, and his heart started doing somersaults. He watched as they slid their hands together and tugged them back and forth as his lovely laugh rang out again, tickling Troy’s ears in the most beautiful of ways. 

It was him. 

Troy stood up abruptly, and before he even knew what was happening, he was pointing at No-Longer-Batman Dude and shouting, “YOU!” 

The man turned to face him. He looked even more beautiful without the mask on his face. 

He pointed at himself with furrowed brows. “Me?” 

“You!” Troy repeated, mindless of the people staring at him, frenetically waving his finger, “You’re him! You’re the dude who made me fall in love in one night!” 

“Oh,” he mouthed, playing dumb, “yeah, that was me.”

“I- You- We-” Troy took a deep breath, and in four long strides he was standing right in front of him. He could feel everyone’s eyes on them. He didn’t care, not one bit. 

“Hello, Troy,” the man said with a soft voice and an even softer smile, “I’m Abed.”

“ _Abed_ ,” Troy repeated carefully. It was the most beautiful word he had ever known. He wanted to kiss him, wanted to tell him everything he felt, wanted to- he glanced around nervously. Maybe he did care a little bit. 

“Let’s go somewhere more private,” _Abed_ suggested, as if reading Troy’s mind. “Bye, Annie,” he mumbled to his friend, and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before grabbing Troy’s hand- _holy shit_ \- and leading him out of the cafeteria. 

He took him to the library, to the same spot where they’d sat that night- but this time they stood, nervously facing each other. 

“You found me,” Abed said. 

“Yes,” Troy nodded, “man, it wasn’t easy.”

“I’m sorry,” Abed mumbled. 

“You’re worth it,” Troy replied. He was still holding onto Abed’s hand. He never wanted to let go. 

“I’m not the guy you met that night, Troy,” Abed said, and Troy’s eyes widened as his brows furrowed. “No, I mean, I am,” he quickly clarified, “I mean I’m not- I’m not like that. I’m not the cool, smooth-” 

“Sexy,” Troy cut in. 

“-sexy,” Abed conceded, “Batman that you met. I’m a nerd. I filter reality through movies and TV shows so it makes sense to me. I hate the sound of people chewing gum. I can’t read or express emotions well. I practice smiling in front of a mirror sometimes, because I don’t do it enough and people think it’s weird- _I’m_ weird. I’m sorry.”

“Abed,” Troy whispered- god, the word felt amazing on his lips. He cupped Abed’s cheeks with his hands and stared intently into his eyes, wanting him to pay attention to every single word he was about to say. 

“I know you’re a nerd, that’s why I like you- you must’ve made a hundred movie references in one night and I loved every single one.” Abed smiled a little, which encouraged Troy to keep listing things. “Chewing gum noises are really annoying, man, you’re right to hate them. I can’t read emotions that well either, but I express them way too much, it kinda annoys people. You smiled a lot with me that night. You were smiling just then with-” he thought for a second “-with Annie. You’re not weird. Not in a bad way, at least. You’re different than anyone else I’ve ever met. You’re fucking magical, Abed. Not Batman. You.” 

“You still want me?” Abed said in a quiet gasp of surprise. 

“I still want you,” Troy laughed, “god, of course I still want you. How could I not?”

“I don’t-” he worried at his lip for a moment “-people don’t usually want the real me.”

“I do,” Troy whispered, “I want all of you.”

“All of me?” 

“All of you.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay?” 

Abed smiled. “Yeah. I told you I'd be yours."

Troy delicately caressed his cheek as he whispered, "I'd offer my heart in return, but you've sorta had it all along." 

"I’ll take good care of it," Abed promised. 

“I know,” Troy said, “couldn’t be in better hands.” 

Abed tugged on Troy’s shirt to pull him closer, until their lips were only millimeters away. 

“I liked your posters,” he teasingly whispered. 

“Shut up,” Troy mumbled. 

“Make me,” Abed grinned, and Troy happily accepted the challenge. He brought their lips together in a tender kiss, and as soon as they touched he knew all his dreams could never measure up to the real thing, to the wonderful feeling of Abed’s mouth on his own, his hands roaming on Troy’s back before settling on his waist and drawing him even closer. 

He pulled away to catch his breath, and touching his forehead to Abed’s whispered, “Kiss me forever, please.” 

Abed hummed, and with a light chuckle replied, “Yeah, that’s what I’m planning to do.” 

And then he kissed him again- and again, and again, and again, and Troy couldn’t quite believe his luck.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked this, leave comments or kudos perhaps? I'll see you on the other side, brotha.


End file.
